Speaking in Sarajevo yesterday (7 April), Moratinos said he was confident that the proposals would be unveiled during a conference on the Western Balkans, to be held on 2 June in the Bosnian capital.
The conference is also expected to set the path that Bosnian leaders will take following a general elections in October.
A similar conference, held recently in Brdo pri Kranju, a resort in Slovenia, disappointed both its hosts and Brussels, as it was boycotted by Serbian President Boris Tadić due to the presence of Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Thaçi (EurActiv 22/03/10).
EU diplomats have voiced concern over the lack of coordination of recent Western Balkan meetings and their poor preparation, EurActiv has learned. EU representatives have also sent conflicting messages to the region, such as Greece pushing for 2014 as a target date for the Western Balkans joining the EU.
2014 will also mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. The First World War was sparked on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when a student, Gavrilo Princip, shot dead Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.
In Sarajevo, Moratinos met with American Under-Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, with whom he called for constitutional reform to patch up the country's three ethnic entities, which, according to diplomats, appear less and less interested in pursuing a common future.
Moratinos and Steinberg held talks with representatives of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Sulejman Tihic, the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SDP) Zlatko Lagumdzija and the Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) Milorad Dodik on 7 April.
"They all said that, after the October elections, they will work together, regardless of their political differences, towards one goal: Bosnia and Herzegovina joining the European Union and NATO," said Moratinos during a press conference in the Bosnian capital. He said these were the "positions and messages” he had taken away from the meetings he and Steinberg had held with the main Muslim, Serb and Croat parties. Moratinos mentioned a document dubbed the 'Madrid Declaration' by the Bosnian media, which should define the commitments Bosnia must make in order to speed up its entry into the EU and NATO, and which had been discussed during the visit. "The goal of the EU is to create a basis upon which we can operate following the elections. Bosnia and Herzegovina must prepare itself for the process of becoming a member of the EU, and I think the declaration is a good foundation from which to start," said Moratinos. Steinberg appeared less enthusiastic. He said the EU and the United States were not expecting changes "from one day to the next" in Bosnia, but underscored the importance of its willingness to make progress on its EU integration path.
